Dhaka Bureau: The legal battle over the guardianship of the two children of Japanese origin has come to an end. The court ordered that the child stay with the two mothers.
Dhaka Second Additional Assistant Judge and Family Court Judge Durdana Rahman gave this order on Sunday, January 29.
Before this, the arguments on both sides of the case ended on January 22. Lawyer Shishir Moni argued in court for Japanese mother Nakano Eriko that the elder daughter is 13 years old, the middle daughter is 11 years old, and the younger daughter is 9 years old. The two girls brought to Dhaka are still 5-7 years away from turning 18. Tokyo has some of the best schools and colleges in the world. They will be fine with their mother. can study in good educational institutions.Girls also want to stay close to their mothers. Besides, the father was told to pay the expenses of the girls, but he did not obey the order of the High Court.
On the other hand, Japanese father Imran Sharif’s lawyer, Nachima Akhtar, told the court that the plaintiff-defendant’s marriage was according to the provisions of Muslim Shariat. It says about custody of children that girl children will remain with the mother until they reach adulthood. After the child becomes a minor, the father can remain in custody. But the law also says something about the mother losing custody if she lives away from the residential building while married. Because a father is needed for sustenance.
The lawyer for the children’s welfare also said, on behalf of the father, that the mother admitted in the cross-examination that she stays out for 11 hours every day. If Mother comes home at 6 p.m. Then take 3 hours before going to bed.On the other hand, Father Imran Sharif gives more time to girls. Apart from only giving birth, the father devoted more time to their daily care from childhood on. Plaintiff’s mother, Erica, admitted that on cross-examination. The father is fighting for the children, leaving everything behind. The girls will be fine if they are with their father. Girls want fathers too. Father has a solid English education.Girls will do well under their father’s guidance.
He also said that when her elder daughter Jasmine was suffering from various diseases, including allergies, while she was with her mother, the mother did not treat her. We applied to the court on behalf of the father for his treatment. In addition, although she has been with her mother for one and a half years in Bangladesh, she has ordered food from Food Panda instead of cooking at home. How will the child be healthy?
Apart from this, lawyer Nasima Akhtar said that the laws of Japan are extremely racially discriminatory. Anyone from the Indian subcontinent is looked down upon. No one of Bangladeshi origin can get good jobs. But foreigners in Bangladesh are actually given proper status. Bangladesh is not such a bad country that no child can grow up well. Is our country so bad that it cannot support two children? Bangladeshis say that you will be childless.
Earlier on January 15, the family court heard the statements of two Japanese children and their parents.
It should be noted that Bangladeshi engineer Imran Sharif got married to Japanese doctor Eriko Nakano in 2008. Erico filed for divorce in early 2020 due to marital discord. They gave birth to three daughters in 12 years of marriage. They are Jasmine Malika, Laila Leena, and Sania Hena. After that, Imran moved to Bangladesh with his two eldest school-going daughters. The younger daughter stayed with Eriko in Japan.
After that, this Japanese woman came to Bangladesh in July last year to take custody of those two girls amid the coronavirus epidemic. If he applied for a writ in the High Court, the judge would have asked them to come to a compromise. But as the couple failed to reach an agreement, after months of hearings, the High Court decided to keep the two children in the father’s custody. In addition, the father is asked to pay expenses to ensure that the mother can visit the children.
The children’s mother, Eriko Nakano, appealed to the Appellate Division against the judgment of the High Court. Later, the Appellate Division ordered the two children to be kept in the mother’s custody, but the father did not comply, and the judges expressed anger. The court later took the children from the father’s custody, spoke to them, and later ordered the mother’s custody.
Then, on February 13, last year, the appellate division decided that the custody of the two girls would be decided by the family court, and until then, the two children would remain with their mother. The case then went from the Appellate Division to the Family Court.
Meanwhile, the children’s father, Imran Sharif, filed a case against the Japanese mother, Eriko Nakano, for trying to escape with her children on December 29 in Dhaka’s CMM court. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arafatul Raqib ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate and submit a report.
